Tight Inventory? Create Your Own

Homeowners stay in their houses longer, chilling the housing market. Some agents create their own inventory.

(Mountain Lakes, NJ, February 1, 2018) — Before the housing crash of 2008, Americans were a
mobile bunch, bordering on rootless.

Realtors could count on homeowners to sell every five
to seven years, a quick holding period that created
both plentiful inventories and regular transactions.

Since the Great Recession, however, Americans have
planted increasingly deep roots. The typical American
who sold a home in 2016 and 2017 stayed in the property
for 10 years, a record high, according to the National
Association of Realtors.

To pry inventory out of the tight market, Atlanta Fine
Homes agents often touch base with past clients who
might be ready to sell but don’t want the hassle of
staging and showing their properties.

"We try to encourage them that if they have
considered selling, now is a great time," Rawlings
says. "Many times, we will go to them with potential
buyers before the house is on the market."

That approach works, Rawlings says, but it’s still
only a Band-Aid on the broader challenge posed by
Americans’ longer tenures in their homes.